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It looks a little bit better after all the dirt was washed off. There are still a lot of parts left I need to remove. Brake lines, wiring, power steering lines, spare tire mount, fuel tank. Maybe a few others. Can't wait to see it after blasting all the rust of it.
Before I pulled the motor and trans, I noticed that the rear end was not in line with the back of the trans. I assume this is the reason for the two piece driveshaft. When switching drivetrains, and going to a single driveshaft, is this offset from the trans to the rear end an issue? If I switch to a rear end from an Explorer, is there an alignment issue with the offset transmission? Is the Explorer rear end centered?
Alignment isn't too much of an issue. It was actually pretty common for the trans to be pushed to one side or the other, in favor of 'better' passenger space.... A one piece shaft should work just fine, so long as your angle between shaft/trans, and shaft/diff are pretty close. That's what u-joints are for.
Yesterday I took the body and drivetrain to the wrecking yard. My trailer is empty again! Next week the chassis is off for blasting. Then I need the engine and trans to start fabbing the mounts. Cross member will be a Hooker Blackheart (p/n BHS545), so no fab required there. Since the 5.2 Magnum went to the boneyard, I have decided on my drivetrain choice. I am going with a 99-04 LM7 (gen III LS with a iron block) and a 4L60E auto trans. How warmed over the motor gets will be seen when it happens. I may have to "just get it running" and wait for the power upgrades later. I took a couple unexpected budget hits recently, and that may have changed the short term course of this project.
